Troy where it was located on the territory. Legendary Troy. Myths and reality. Troy, Turkey: description, photo, where it is on the map, how to get there

Troy, a city described by Homer in the poem “The Iliad,” is an ancient fortified settlement of Asia Minor, located off the coast of the Aegean Sea, near the entrance to the Dardanelles Strait. While vacationing in Turkey, you should not miss the chance to see this grandiose city and once again remember the events described by Homer. In the ruins of Troy, you can visit several archaeological zones belonging to certain cultural layers and learn the peculiarities of the life of the people who inhabited this land.

Excavations of the ancient city began in 1870 by the German amateur archaeologist and entrepreneur Heinrich Schliemann. Since childhood, he was fascinated by the story of Troy and was convinced of the existence of this settlement. Excavations began on a hillside, near the village of Hisarlik. The ruins of nine cities were discovered, one below the other. The archaeologist found a large number of objects made of bone, stone, copper and precious metals. Deep in the hill, Heinrich Schliemann came across a very ancient fortress, which he confidently called the city of Priam. After Schliemann's death in 1890, his work was continued by his colleague Wilhelm Dörpfeld. In 1893 and 1894 he excavated the more extensive perimeter of Troy VI. It is this city that dates back to the Mycenaean era and therefore it was recognized as Homeric Troy. The most intensive excavations are currently being carried out on the territory of this cultural layer, which bears obvious traces of fire.

In ancient times, Troy played a leading role in the region from both a military and economic point of view. She had a large fortress and a defensive fort on the seashore, which gave her the ability to control the movement of ships through the Hellespont and the roads connecting Asia and Europe by land. The city ruler imposed a tax on the transported goods or did not let them pass at all. This led to numerous conflicts in the region, which began as early as the Bronze Age. Economic and cultural ties connected Troy of that period not with the East, but with the West and the Aegean civilization. The city was inhabited almost continuously for three and a half millennia.

Thanks to archaeological excavations, it is known that most of the buildings of Troy were erected on low stone foundations, and their walls were built of mud brick. When structures were destroyed, their debris was not cleared, but only leveled for the construction of new buildings. In the ruins of Troy, there are 9 main layers, each with its own subdivisions. The features of settlements from different eras can be characterized as follows.

The first city was a small fortress, the diameter of which did not exceed 90 meters. The structure had a strong defensive wall with square towers and gates. Pottery from this period has a polished surface in gray and black and is sculpted without the use of a potter's wheel. There are tools made of copper.

A large citadel with a diameter of about 125 meters was erected on the ruins of the first fortress. It also had high thick walls, gates and protruding towers. There was a ramp leading to the south-eastern side of the fortress. The defensive wall was restored twice and expanded with the growth of the city's power and wealth. In the center of the fortress there are ruins of a palace with a beautiful portico and a huge main hall. The palace was surrounded by a courtyard with small living quarters and warehouses. The seven phases of Troy II formed overlapping architectural layers. At the last stage, the settlement was destroyed in a fire so intense that the heat caused the stone and brick to crumble and turn to dust. Judging by the large number of valuables and household items found, the fire was sudden and the inhabitants of the city did not have time to take anything with them.

The settlements of Troy III, IV and V consist of clusters of small houses separated from each other by narrow streets. Each of them is larger than the previous one. These periods are represented by vessels with molded images of a human face. Along with local products, imported goods characteristic of mainland Greece were also discovered.

The early stages of Settlement VI are marked by evidence of horses. At this time the city was extremely rich and powerful. The diameter of its fortress exceeded 180 m, and the width of the wall, made of cut stone, was about 5 meters. There were at least four gates and three towers along the perimeter of the citadel. Inside the settlement, large buildings and columned palaces were located in concentric circles, rising along terraces to the center of the hill. The end of this era was a very strong earthquake, which covered the walls with cracks and collapsed the buildings themselves. Throughout the subsequent stages of Troy VI, the main type of local pottery remained gray Minoan pottery, supplemented by a few amphorae brought from Greece and vessels imported during the Mycenaean era.

Later this area was repopulated. The remaining wall parts and building blocks were reused. Now the houses were built smaller in size, they were pressed against each other, so that many more people could fit in the fortress. Large jars of supplies were now stored in the floors of the houses in case of any disaster. The first period of Troy VII burned down, but part of the population returned and settled on the hill again. Later, another tribe joined the inhabitants, who brought with them ceramics made without a potter's wheel, which indicate Troy's connections with Europe. Now it has become a Greek city. Troy was quite comfortable in the early periods, but by the 6th century BC. part of the population left the city and it fell into decay. On the southwestern slope of the acropolis, the remains of the temple of Athena from that time have been preserved.

During the Hellenistic era, this place played no role, except for the memories of the heroic past associated with it. In 334 BC Alexander the Great made a pilgrimage to this city. His successors and the Roman emperors of the Julio-Claudian dynasty carried out a large-scale reconstruction of the city. The top of the hill was cut off and leveled, so that layers VI, VII and VIII of Troy were mixed. A temple of Athena with a sacred site was built here. A little to the south, on a level area, public buildings were erected and surrounded by a wall, and on the north-eastern slope a large theater was built. During the era of Constantine the Great, the city flourished and the ruler even intended to make it the capital, but the settlement again lost its importance with the rise of Constantinople.

These days, the area around Troy has changed beyond recognition. Silt deposits from local rivers flowing into the bay have moved the coastline several kilometers to the north. Now the ruins of the ancient city are located on a dry hill. A team of scientists dated fossils found in soil taken from two river valleys using radiocarbon dating techniques. Using these data, researchers were able to determine the topography of this area in the Homeric era.

Now the restoration of the famous Trojan horse has been completed on the excavation site, and tourists visiting Turkey have a unique opportunity to examine this wooden masterpiece, which exactly matches Homer’s description. The Trojan Horse, which once helped the cunning Achaeans capture the city, is now an original panoramic platform. Unfortunately, apart from the model of a horse, there is little here that can attract the traveler’s eye. It is believed that this place is one of the greatest fairy tales of the world, so it will be enough to at least just soak in this atmosphere.

Troy (Turkish Truva), second name - Ilion, is an ancient city in the north-west of Asia Minor, off the coast of the Aegean Sea. It was known thanks to the ancient Greek epics and was discovered in the 1870s. during G. Schliemann's excavations of the Hissarlik hill. The city gained particular fame thanks to the myths about the Trojan War and the events described in Homer’s poem “The Iliad,” according to which the 10-year war of the coalition of Achaean kings led by Agamemnon, the king of Mycenae, against Troy ended with the fall of the fortress city. The people who inhabited Troy are called Teucrians in ancient Greek sources.

Troy is a mythical city. For many centuries, the reality of Troy's existence was questioned - it existed like a city from legend. But there have always been people looking for a reflection of real history in the events of the Iliad. However, serious attempts to search for the ancient city were made only in the 19th century. In 1870, Heinrich Schliemann, while excavating the mountain village of Gissrlik on the Turkish coast, came across the ruins of an ancient city. Continuing excavations to a depth of 15 meters, he unearthed treasures that belonged to an ancient and highly developed civilization. These were the ruins of Homer's famous Troy. It is worth noting that Schliemann excavated a city that was built earlier (1000 years before the Trojan War); further research showed that he simply walked right through Troy, since it was built on the ruins of the ancient city he found.

Troy and Atlantis are one and the same. In 1992, Eberhard Zangger suggested that Troy and Atlantis are the same city. He based his theory on the similarity of the descriptions of cities in ancient legends. However, this assumption did not have a widespread and scientific basis. This hypothesis did not receive widespread support.

The Trojan War broke out because of a woman. According to Greek legend, the Trojan War broke out because one of the 50 sons of King Priam, Paris, kidnapped the beautiful Helen, the wife of the Spartan king Menelaus. The Greeks sent troops precisely to take Helen away. However, according to some historians, this is most likely only the peak of the conflict, that is, the last straw that gave rise to the war. Before this, there were supposedly many trade wars between the Greeks and the Trojans, who controlled trade along the entire coast of the Dardanelles.

Troy survived for 10 years thanks to outside help. According to available sources, Agamemnon's army camped in front of the city on the seashore, without besieging the fortress from all sides. King Priam of Troy took advantage of this, establishing close ties with Caria, Lydia and other regions of Asia Minor, which provided him with assistance during the war. As a result, the war turned out to be very protracted.

The Trojan horse actually existed. This is one of the few episodes of that war that has never found its archaeological and historical confirmation. Moreover, there is not a word about the horse in the Iliad, but Homer describes it in detail in his Odyssey. And all the events associated with the Trojan horse and their details were described by the Roman poet Virgil in the Aeneid, 1st century. BC, i.e. almost 1200 years later. Some historians suggest that the Trojan horse meant some kind of weapon, for example, a ram. Others claim that Homer called Greek sea vessels this way. It is possible that there was no horse at all, and Homer used it in his poem as a symbol of the death of the gullible Trojans.

The Trojan horse got into the city thanks to a cunning trick by the Greeks. According to legend, the Greeks spread a rumor that there was a prophecy that if a wooden horse stood within the walls of Troy, it could forever defend the city from Greek raids. Most of the city's residents were inclined to believe that the horse should be brought into the city. However, there were also opponents. The priest Laocoon suggested burning the horse or throwing it off a cliff. He even threw a spear at the horse, and everyone heard that the horse was empty inside. Soon a Greek named Sinon was captured and told Priam that the Greeks had built a horse in honor of the goddess Athena to atone for many years of bloodshed. Tragic events followed: during a sacrifice to the god of the sea Poseidon, two huge snakes swam out of the water and strangled the priest and his sons. Seeing this as an omen from above, the Trojans decided to roll the horse into the city. He was so huge that he couldn’t fit through the gate and part of the wall had to be dismantled.

The Trojan Horse caused the fall of Troy. According to legend, on the night after the horse entered the city, Sinon released the warriors hiding inside from its belly, who quickly killed the guards and opened the city gates. The city, which had fallen asleep after the riotous festivities, did not even offer strong resistance. Several Trojan soldiers led by Aeneas tried to save the palace and the king. According to ancient Greek myths, the palace fell thanks to the giant Neoptolemus, son of Achilles, who smashed the front door with his ax and killed King Priam.

Heinrich Schliemann, who found Troy and amassed a huge fortune during his life, was born into a poor family. He was born in 1822 into the family of a rural pastor. His homeland is a small German village near the Polish border. His mother died when he was 9 years old. My father was a harsh, unpredictable and self-centered man who loved women very much (for which he lost his position). At the age of 14, Heinrich was separated from his first love, the girl Minna. When Heinrich was 25 years old and already becoming a famous businessman, he finally asked Minna's hand in marriage from her father in a letter. The answer said that Minna married a farmer. This message completely broke his heart. A passion for Ancient Greece appeared in the boy’s soul thanks to his father, who read the Iliad to the children in the evenings, and then gave his son a book on world history with illustrations. In 1840, after a long and grueling job in a grocery store that almost cost him his life, Henry boarded a ship bound for Venezuela. On December 12, 1841, the ship was caught in a storm and Schliemann was thrown into the icy sea; he was saved from death by a barrel, which he held on to until he was rescued. During his life, he learned 17 languages and made a large fortune. However, the peak of his career was the excavations of the great Troy.

Heinrich Schliemann undertook the excavations of Troy due to unsettled personal life. This is not excluded. In 1852, Heinrich Schliemann, who had many affairs in St. Petersburg, married Ekaterina Lyzhina. This marriage lasted 17 years and turned out to be completely empty for him. Being a passionate man by nature, he married a sensible woman who was cold towards him. As a result, he almost found himself on the verge of madness. The unhappy couple had three children, but this did not bring happiness to Schliemann. Out of desperation, he made another fortune by selling indigo dye. In addition, he took up the Greek language closely. An inexorable thirst for travel appeared in him. In 1868, he decided to go to Ithaca and organize his first expedition. Then he went towards Constantinople, to the places where Troy was located according to the Iliad and began excavations on the Hissarlik hill. This was his first step on the path to the great Troy.

Schliemann tried on jewelry from Helen of Troy for his second wife. Heinrich was introduced to his second wife by his old friend, 17-year-old Greek Sofia Engastromenos. According to some sources, when Schliemann found the famous treasures of Troy (10,000 gold objects) in 1873, he moved them upstairs with the help of his second wife, whom he loved immensely. Among them were two luxurious tiaras. Having placed one of them on Sophia’s head, Henry said: “The jewel that Helen of Troy wore now adorns my wife.” One of the photographs actually shows her wearing magnificent antique jewelry.

The Trojan treasures were lost. There is a deal of truth in it. The Schliemanns donated 12,000 objects to the Berlin Museum. During World War II, this priceless treasure was moved to a bunker from which it disappeared in 1945. Part of the treasury unexpectedly appeared in 1993 in Moscow. There is still no answer to the question: “Was it really the gold of Troy?”

During excavations at Hisarlik, several layers of cities from different times were discovered. Archaeologists have identified 9 layers that belong to different years. Everyone calls them Troy. Only two towers have survived from Troy I. Troy II was explored by Schliemann, considering it the true Troy of King Priam. Troy VI was the high point of the city's development, its inhabitants trading profitably with the Greeks, but the city appears to have been badly destroyed by an earthquake. Modern scientists believe that the found Troy VII is the true city of Homer's Iliad. According to historians, the city fell in 1184 BC, being burned by the Greeks. Troy VIII was restored by Greek colonists, who also built the temple of Athena here. Troy IX already belongs to the Roman Empire. I would like to note that excavations have shown that Homeric descriptions very accurately describe the city.

One fine sunny day, during my trip to Western Turkey, I crossed the famous Dardanelles on a cheerfully chugging car-passenger ferry and landed in the town of Canakkale, the center of the province of the same name, to the enthusiastic cries of seagulls. Although in itself it is a rather old city with its own history, containing an Ottoman fortress of the 15th century and some other attractions of later times - they were not the main purpose of my arrival on the mainland.

The place that had long interested and attracted me was located only 30 km south of Canakkale. I deliberately did not read anything “optional” and did not look at modern photographs of this place, so as not to depend on other people’s opinions and form my own judgment from the one-on-one meeting. After all, this was the legendary Troy, which we all know from ancient Greek myths, glorified by Homer in his immortal poems “Iliad” and “Odyssey”; a gray-haired fortress city, covered with the glorious exploits of ancient heroes and which became the scene of one of the most famous wars in world history...

Long 27 centuries and fast 27 kilometers to Troy

As mentioned above, from Çanakkale to the turn to Troy is approximately 27 km along the excellent highway E-87. If you know how and like to hitchhike along the ground, it will not be difficult for you to quickly cover such a small section of the road. In addition, at the exit from Çanakkale in the right direction there is a convenient stop position, a roundabout for cars and a traffic light - so most likely you will leave soon enough.

Road sign at the exit from Canakkale

So I reached the position, and a few minutes later, with squeaking brakes, a brand new Mercedes Axor stopped next to me, heading somewhere towards the southern coast. I didn’t even have time to properly talk about myself and my journey, and 25 kilometers flew by in an instant - and now I was landing at the turn towards Troy itself.

Only 5 km left to the legendary city

There were still five kilometers left to the finish line - and I already wanted to slowly get there “on my own”, but before I had time to walk even a kilometer, a passenger car with two cheerful Turks caught up with me, in which we reached the goal in 5 minutes. It was already evening, the sun's disk was slowly sloping towards the horizon; in an hour and a half the park was closing, and therefore there were almost no visitors - so I had the opportunity to stay face-to-face with History...

They were the first

Back in 1822, the Scotsman Charles MacLaren, editor of the Encyclopedia Britannica, pointed to Hisarlik Hill as the possible location of the mythical Troy. 25 years later, the English amateur archaeologist Frank Calvert (who served as the British consul in the Ottoman Empire at that time), who shared this assumption, decided to test McLaren’s guess in the area indicated. This became all the more possible because in 1847 Frank’s brother, Frederick, acquired a farm with an area of 8 km2, the territory of which included part of the Hissarlik hill.

Along with his diplomatic work, Frank Calvert spent a number of years conducting excavations on his site of the Hisarlik Hill, where, according to his calculations, Homeric Troy was supposed to be located. Unfortunately, no matter how much he dug, he was unable to find anything significant to confirm his theory. Nevertheless, Calvert continued to believe that traces of Homer's Troy were very close, and after the end of the Crimean War he shared his thoughts with his newly arrived colleague, who, ironically, was destined to discover the very famous Troy that we know to this day. Who had such luck?

Heinrich Schliemann. The man who turned a childhood dream into a grand discovery

There were very few desperate people in the world who, already at an advanced age, were able to turn their lives around and devote the rest of it to serving their dreams. There are even fewer who manage to achieve success in this field. Heinrich Schliemann was such a rare exception.

Even in early childhood, his father often retold various legends to his son, which is why Schliemann Jr. awakened a serious interest in history. The death of Pompeii during a volcanic eruption, the Trojan War and other striking events of the past excited the child’s imagination. And his entire subsequent turbulent life could be an excellent plot for an adventure novel.

Having started his working career at the age of 14 as a modest clerk in a grocery store in Prussia, five years later he becomes a representative of a large trading company, discovers excellent abilities for languages (in less than three years he managed to master Dutch, English, French, Italian, Portuguese - and then Russian), after which the company decides to send a young and promising employee to St. Petersburg. In January 1846, 24-year-old Schliemann left for Russia.

It was here that Lady Luck was waiting for him, whom he managed to grab by the tail in time. The very next year, Schliemann founded his own trading company and quickly achieved commercial success. He grabbed every opportunity, traded in saltpeter, rare indigo dye, rubber, sugar and much more... Schliemann made a huge fortune selling gold dust during the famous Gold Rush in California, managed to earn millions both in the Crimean War in Russia and in Civil - in America. The ability to take advantage of these types of situations was in his blood.

Heinrich Schliemann: successful millionaire adventurer and amateur archaeologist

Having achieved everything and fully satisfied his commercial ambitions, Schliemann, already at an advanced age, decided to return to his childhood dream and take up travel, history and archeology without interference. To begin with, he perfectly studied the very difficult ancient Greek language, adhering to a long-developed and proven method: he read a lot out loud and memorized it by heart. Naturally, he studied from the original texts of the Iliad and Odyssey. Having completed a two-year trip around the world, in July 1868 Schliemann moved to Greece and took his first steps in the archaeological field.

Newly minted archaeologist

He began excavations in Ithaca, located west of the Balkan Peninsula. Part of the events of Homer's Odyssey takes place on this island - the main character's house was located there - and Schliemann began to look for evidence of the historicity of the poem. The first archaeological experiment of yesterday's businessman lasted two days. Of course, he didn’t find anything serious, but he managed to state that several artifacts found in the ground were directly related to the Odyssey. This hasty conclusions would later become a well-known feature of Schliemann, as well as the starting point for criticism of him.

One of the artifacts found

Then he went to the plain mentioned in the Iliad, located in the western part of Asia Minor near the Dardanelles. Schliemann compared his discoveries with the descriptions of the Iliad and began to lean towards the opinion that it was necessary to excavate the Hissarlik hill. Convincing arguments for this version for him were the very name of the place, which in Turkish meant “fortress,” as well as communication with the above-mentioned Frank Calvert, who had been excavating this hill for a long time before Schliemann.

Homer's world found?

Schliemann understood: the only way to prove he was right was to find Troy on his own. He began planning the excavations of Hisarlik. It took more than a year to obtain permission from the Turkish government. Finally, in October 1871, Heinrich Schliemann began to implement his plan.

Excavations of Troy during the First Expedition

The search was carried out from 1871 to 1873 and, contrary to the expectations of many skeptics, was crowned with stunning success. Schliemann excavated under the ruins of a Greek city of the classical era the remains of an older fortification and several cultural layers leading back to the Bronze Age. This is how the Mycenaean civilization was discovered, which preceded the archaic and classical eras.

However, Schiemann's method of conducting excavations deserved the strongest condemnation. His desire to find Troy at all costs and his reluctance to see everything else ultimately led to tragedy: Schliemann actually destroyed Troy as an archaeological site. He dug through the “uninteresting” ones - in his opinion! - layers and thoughtlessly destroyed everything “non-Meric.”

The new results of Schiemann's search for Troy caused a storm of criticism from professional archaeologists. The prominent scientist Ernst Curtius, the leader of another German group working on the territory of Olympia, spoke extremely disapprovingly of the sloppy method of Schiemann's excavations and his desire to prove his theory at all costs and declare everything that he extracted from the ground to be the remains of the Homeric world. The former entrepreneur pragmatically ignored much of what was not related to the supposed Trojan War, and even carelessly destroyed some of it. The cultural layers were severely damaged by it, and today professionals have to restore the painting by studying what remains after Schliemann’s excavations.

What can you see today on the site of the legendary city?
I invite you to take a photo tour of Troy

Sanctuary

In Greek and Roman times, Troy was an important religious center, as we know from ancient sources and from excavations.

The sanctuary before you may have been founded as early as the seventh century BC. These archaic ruins appear to have included altars, large sections of walls, and several buildings, possibly temples.

The outer walls of the sanctuary were almost four meters high, which suggests that this place was associated with some secret rites, for the performance of which the sacrifices made on the altars were fenced off from the uninitiated. The sanctuary was seriously damaged in the destruction of Ilium by the Roman governor Flavius Fimbrias, in 85 BC.

Pithos Garden

Such vessels served primarily as a means of preserving olive oil, wine and bread, but were also excellent containers for transporting smaller, more expensive ceramics on seagoing trading ships. These amphora vats were often made human-sized and had very thick walls - they were usually dug into the ground and used in the household as a kind of refrigerator.

Water pipes

Even the ancient Roman author and architect Vitruvius, in his book "De Architectura", argued that at that time there were three main types of plumbing systems: stone channels, lead and terracotta pipes. He considered terracotta pipes to be the best choice because they were simpler and more economical than constructing stone channels and less harmful to health than lead pipes. These thick terracotta pipes found at Troy are consistent with Vitruvius' description, as well as other similar finds from numerous excavation sites throughout the Roman Empire.

Main entrance (The Ramp)

Here you can see the remains of the fortified walls of Troy II, and here, most likely, the main, Eastern gate of the citadel was located, for entry into which a special inclined ramp was paved from flat stones. It was here, to the left of the gate, that Schliemann found the legendary “Treasure of King Priam.”

The Schliemann Trench

During the first three years of excavations under the leadership of Schliemann, a huge trench was dug in the center of the mound, forty meters wide and 17 meters deep. It was conceived as a test trench; with its help, Schliemann hoped to find the answer to the question at what depth the “Citadel of Priam” was located.

View from Hissarlik Hill to the “Schliemann Trench”, the plain lying behind it and the Aegean Sea, which carries its waves 6 km from here

Unfortunately, during this crude operation, many historically, architecturally and archaeologically important later layers and buildings were partially or completely destroyed by him. The disastrous result is before your eyes. :(

Eastern wall

You are now looking at the remains of an outer wall and fortifications from the Troy VIII - IX period (third century BC - c. 500 AD)

Beyond the wall lay the Lower City, which we know as Greek and Roman Ilion. Further to the north is the Dardanelles Strait, to the west is the plain and the river of the same name under the ancient name Scamander.

Odeon Theater

And now you are in front of the ancient Roman theater (Odeion), which, among other things, was intended for the presentation of musical performances. Behind it are the ruins of partially excavated baths, which were also built during the Roman Empire.

The Odeon, the baths, and the nearby Bouleuterion (the city council building) were located on the edge of the agora, the market square where Troy's social life was centered. The Odeon has a semicircular stage, with a special recess in which stood a lifetime statue of Emperor Hadrian (117-138 AD), made in life-size.

Trojan horse

At the entrance to the open-air museum in the 90s, a model of the famous Trojan Horse was installed, with the help of which the cunning Odysseus came up with the idea of getting inside Troy, and it was built by one of the most famous Achaean warriors, Epeus. According to various sources, from 30 to 50 of the bravest Greek warriors, led by Menelaus, Odysseus, Diomedes and Neoptolemus, hid inside it.

A still from the film "Troy" - the joyful Trojans celebrate their imaginary victory over the Greeks. They don't yet know what awaits them the next night...

Numerous tourist children (and adults too), who come every day on excursions from Istanbul, Izmir and all over the world, happily climb into this same modern little humpbacked horse:). Apparently, it is very flattering for them to feel like ancient heroes, even for a few minutes, and thus get in touch with hoary antiquity. A similar horse (which took part in the filming of the film) was also installed in one of the squares in Canakkale.

The Trojan horse moves in an L shape and wins

Trojan layer cake

The end result of all the expeditions was the discovery in this territory of 46 cultural layers, divided into nine cities that existed here at different times: from Troy I to Troy IX.

Historical scheme of Troy: century by century, millennium by millennium...

Troy-I (circa 2920-2450 BC)
The first settlement, presumably dating back to the Cretan-Mycenaean, pre-Greek culture of the Mediterranean, is poorly preserved. The city was 90 meters in diameter and was surrounded by a low wall that followed the terrain. The wall had one gate with bastions.

Ancient artifacts

Troy II (circa 2600-2450 BC)
This settlement has been preserved much better than the previous one; it was precisely this that was mistakenly taken by Schliemann for Homer's Troy. The second city was 10 meters larger in diameter than its predecessor; the area of Troy-II was 8800 square meters. m, and the wall surrounding the city in some places reached four meters in thickness. There were two gates in the wall with carefully paved passages - the Western (mistaken by Schliemann for the Szekely Gate, mentioned by Homer) and the Eastern. The cause of the death of Troy II was a very strong fire. The “burnt” layer reaches two meters thick!

Troy-VI (circa 1700-1250 BC)
Troy again achieved its lost greatness. This settlement already consisted of two cities: the Citadel and the Lower City, located behind the fortress walls. The fortress walls were made of carefully processed blocks and in some places reached five meters in thickness. Troy VI ceased to exist as a result of a powerful earthquake.

A very elegant jug made by ancient craftsmen

Troy-VII (circa 1250-1020 BC)
In fact, completely rebuilt after the earthquake, the city reached its greatest prosperity and power. The number of residents of the Citadel and the Lower City reached seven thousand people, which at that time was a very respectable figure. It is Troy VII that is most suitable for the role of the city from the Iliad. The reason for the death of the city this time, most likely, was a military invasion caused by economic rivalry between Troy and Mycenae, and not at all the desire of the Greeks to return Helen the Beautiful to her legal spouse.

Reconstruction: this is what Troy might have looked like in the era described by the great Homer

Troy VIII, aka Ilion (circa 800-85 BC)
Part of the population survived the fall of the city and continued to live in this territory even after the arrival of Greek colonists. For a long time, Troy was an inconspicuous Greek colony, but at the end of the 4th century BC. The situation changed and large-scale construction began in the city. A Temple of Athena, a meeting building and a theater with a capacity of six thousand spectators were built.

Silver tetradrachm from Troy, Hellenistic period (ca. 188-160 BC). The obverse depicts the goddess Pallas Athena, and the reverse depicts a female figure and an owl, a symbol of wisdom.

After Ilion became part of the Roman Empire, the city was granted new lands and tax exemptions, making Troy a prosperous city again. However, in 85 BC, due to contradictions with Rome, the city was again sacked and destroyed, this time by the troops of the Roman governor Flavius Fimbria.

Troy-IX, aka Ilion/Ilium (c. 85 BC - 500 AD)
Soon after the destruction of the city, the famous Roman politician, dictator Sulla, ordered it to be rebuilt and populated. However, later, without the support of Rome, Troy gradually began to empty and sink into oblivion. In the 6th century AD. on the Hissarlik hill the last buildings were empty, and the city sank into oblivion...

Famous visitors to Troy

The glory of Troy attracted ancient monarchs to these places; in 480 BC the city was visited by the Persian king Xerxes, and in 334 BC. - Alexander the Great. He brought his weapon as a gift to the spirit of Priam, begged him not to be angry with Neoptolemus (the king of Troy Priam fell from the hand of this hero), from whom the great commander descended, and vowed to revive Troy. But his premature death prevented him from fulfilling his promise.

Julius Caesar And Octavian Augustus sympathized with the city; under Augustus, the theater, the meeting building, and the Temple of Athena were rebuilt in Ilion.

The interest of the rulers of Rome in Troy was probably explained by their belief in the myth about the origin of the Julian family. According to legend, the only Trojans who managed to escape after the Greek warriors captured the city and carried out a massacre there were Aeneas, the son of the goddess Aphrodite, his paralyzed father Anchises and his little son Ascanius. Aeneas carried them in his arms from the city engulfed in flames.

Federico Barocci, "The Flight of Aeneas from Troy"
(Federico Barocci, Aeneas" Flight from Troy, 1598)

Ascanius is considered the ancestor of the Roman patricians, and from his son, Yulus, the famous Julius family descended. Another Roman Emperor Constantine the Great, choosing a place for his future capital, also visited Troy, but found the city almost completely abandoned and made a choice in favor of Byzantium, which later became the center of the new empire. With the fall of the “great and mighty” Roman Empire, life disappeared in many corners of this superpower. Cities and roads were deserted, bridges and aqueducts collapsed...

Treasure of King Priam

On May 31, 1873, Schliemann managed to discover a rich collection of copper and gold jewelry, which, in support of his theory, he immediately called the “Treasure of King Priam.” Later, archaeologists came to the conclusion that the age of the find is about a thousand years older than the events described by Homer, which, of course, does not detract from its historical value.

The same Schliemann's "Treasure of King Priam"

The famous “Treasure of Priam” (24 necklaces, 6 bracelets, 870 rings, 4066 brooches, 2 magnificent tiaras, rings, chains and many small jewelry), items from which were mistakenly taken by Schliemann for the treasures of a mythical ruler, the archaeologist found only during his second expeditions. The further history of this treasure is similar to the plot of an adventure novel.

According to the excavation permit the archaeologist received from the Turkish authorities, he had to leave half of any valuable finds to Turkey. But Schliemann acted differently - he secretly, using smuggling methods, took the found treasures to Greece. The amateur archaeologist was not guided by a desire to enrich himself by selling the “Priam’s Treasure” (his fortune was already enormous); he believed that this treasure should belong to one of the European countries, and not the Ottoman Empire. Schliemann offered the treasure as a gift to the Greek king, but he, for obvious reasons, refused. The Louvre was also not interested in the offer to accept valuable exhibits as a gift.

Sophia Engastromenos, second wife of Heinrich Schliemann, wearing the necklace and diadem of the “queen” from the “Treasure of Priam”, found by her husband in Troy

The management of the British Museum certainly wanted to be sure that no laws were broken during the excavations. Then the treasure was offered to the Hermitage, but Schliemann also received a refusal from Russia, since his reputation here was somewhat tarnished (Schliemann at one time was engaged, to put it mildly, in bad faith, in supplying the Russian army, had a family and a wife in Russia, whom he divorced in spite of Russian laws). In the end, the unique find ended up in Berlin, in the Museum of Ancient and Ancient History, where it remained until the outbreak of World War II.

The treasures "disappeared" from the Berlin Museum in 1939, at the beginning of World War II. It is believed that it was hidden in underground bunkers to prevent it from being damaged by bombing. In 1945, during the surrender of Germany, museum director Wilhelm Unferzagt, fearing the plunder of the unique collection by looters, personally handed over three suitcases with Trojan treasures to representatives of the Soviet military command. The treasure was taken to Moscow (mainly gold and silver) and Leningrad (ceramics and bronze). Since 1949, the Trojan finds, on the personal orders of Stalin, were kept in the strictest secrecy.

In Germany and Western Europe they knew nothing about Professor Unferzagt’s act, and the “treasure” was considered lost. And only almost half a century later - after the collapse of the USSR, in 1993, it became officially known that the “Treasure of Priam” was safe and sound - in the storerooms of the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts. Moreover, in 1996 in Moscow, at the exhibition “Treasures of Troy from the Excavations of Heinrich Schliemann,” the once secret exhibits were put on display to the general public. Naturally, there was an immediate uproar in the West: the Soviet (and at the same time its successor, the Russian) government was once again accused of all mortal sins in general and the theft of other people's cultural property in particular. An international dispute arose over which country - Russia, Germany, Greece or Turkey - has the right to own them. Until now, consensus has not been reached, and most of the Trojan treasures are again hidden from human eyes in museum collections.

Troy after Schliemann

After Schliemann's death in 1890, the excavations were continued by his assistant Wilhelm Dörpfeld. During the lifetime of his senior colleague, Dörpfeld was the first to suggest that the layer where the “Priam’s treasure” was found was actually older than the time of the Trojan War. When he expressed his guess to Schliemann, he became gloomy, went to his tent and remained silent there for four days. Then he admitted that Dörpfeld was right. In subsequent years, he proved that the Troy of the time of Priam was three layers higher than the one that his predecessor idolized.

Thus, Schliemann's attempt to convince scientists that the events of Homer's epic are not a myth, but a historical fact, failed. Yes, he made amazing discoveries, but they had nothing to do with what he was looking for.

After Dörpfeld, archaeological research was stopped for almost 35 years. In the First World War, in the Battle of the Dardanelles, the English navy inflicted considerable damage on the Hisarlik hill with shells; Finds were picked up by the handful from the bottom of the craters.

The Second World War again interrupted the work of archaeologists for a long time; Excavations were resumed only in the 70s of the 20th century and continue to this day. Since the second half of the 20th century, Troy has become a place of pilgrimage for tourists. The Turkish village of a hundred houses, located very close to the open-air museum-reserve surrounded by a grid, and the adjacent tourist center are not the tenth or eleventh Troy. The connection between times was lost...

Troy and "Troy": Homer vs Hollywood

A new wave of interest in the history of “bygone days” swept across the world in 2004, when the epic film of the same name by Wolfgang Petersen was released, with a whole collection of stars starring: Brad Pitt, Eric Bana, Orlando Bloom, Diane Kruger, Sean Bean, Rose Byrne, Peter O'Toole and others.

You can and should watch this film, but, of course, you should not expect that this is a literal adaptation of Homer. As comrade Alex Exler put it in his review, “this is just another blockbuster on a “historical” theme, which was conceived as a blockbuster, shot like a blockbuster and turned out to be an ordinary blockbuster, nothing more and nothing less. It was shot quite well - and, in general, it looks great. quite impressive."

Naturally, the film adaptation was not without inaccuracies and blunders, which would take too long to list, so I will limit myself to only my favorite number 7:

1. Achilles dies without saving his beloved Briseis during the assault inside Troy (as shown in the film), and during the battle, outside the walls of the city and even before its fall - angering the god Apollo, who directs Paris's arrow at Achilles' heel .
2. Hector’s wife Andromache was captured by Achilles’ son, Neoptolemus (by the way, also not shown in the film), and her child was killed. In the film, her name is not mentioned at all, and she and her child escape from Troy.
3. The first to land on the shores of Troy was not Achilles, but Odysseus. (In the original there was a legend that the first one to land on Trojan soil would be killed, so no one was in a hurry to jump from the ships, but Odysseus jumped onto his shield.)
4. According to myth, after the war Menelaus takes his wife Helen back to his homeland, and Paris dies. In the film, Hector kills Menelaus, and Paris remains with Helen (a classic American happy ending, who would doubt it).

Orlando Bloom as Paris and Diane Kruger as Helen the Beautiful

5. In the film, cavalry gallops across a field of lava. But during the Trojan War, the Greeks did not know horse riding, and horses were only harnessed to chariots. Helen is also shown stitching up Paris' wounds after her fight with Menelaus. In fact, suturing was unknown to ancient Greek medicine and did not come into practice until a thousand years later.
6. In the original, Achilles himself allows Patroclus to fight the Trojans in his place and gives him his armor. The film does not contain scenes of the battle between the Myrmidons and the Amazons and Aecheans, where Achilles performed the greatest feats. Also in the film there is no famous Cassandra - the things of Paris's sister, who predicted the death of Troy because of her unlucky brother.
7. And finally, the most important discrepancy between the film and the original is the absence of the ancient Greek gods, who played a prominent role in the Trojan War in the Iliad. Also, the film does not mention at all one of the bravest heroes - Diomedes, whose deeds play a key role in the plot of the Iliad: he was the only Greek who fought with the Olympian gods and even wounded Aphrodite and Ares, and the description of his exploits takes up almost the entire V book of the epic. Together with Odysseus, it was Diomedes who penetrated the besieged Troy and stole the Palladium (the statue of Athena), sealing the fate of Troy. In addition, in the original the war lasted ten years and the Iliad described the last year of the war. In the film, the war lasted a little more than two weeks.

Johann Georg Trautmann, "The Fall of Troy"
(Johann Georg Trautmann (1713–1769): Blick auf das brennende Troja)

In conclusion - my IMHO

So if you, gentlemen readers, happen to visit the places I described, you can, if you wish, stop by Troy to, so to speak, “check in” - so, they say, I visited such a legendary place, following the ancient heroes and a string of kings and emperors. :) Because the most interesting artifacts and valuable treasures have long since spread across museums around the world, and Troy itself, after Schliemann’s “expeditions,” is now, as one of the scientists aptly put it, “ruins of ruins.” All hope lies in the future discoveries of archaeologists, who continue to dig in breadth and depth, and, as we know, often present very unexpected, and sometimes even sensational surprises...

Technical information

Historical and Cultural Park "Troy" is open from 8.30 to 19 hours; Entrance to the territory at the time of my visit cost 15 liras (now perhaps more expensive), for particularly sophisticated individuals with various solid skills - by agreement with the controllers, up to free :)

If you come there with a serious backpack (like me, for example, at one time :)), you can leave it (by agreement) in the care of the gatekeepers; I didn’t seem to notice any storage lockers there. Although perhaps she is.

How to get there:

1. If you have hitchhiking skills, then it will not be difficult for you to drive 30 km from the north - from Canakkale, or get to Troy, on the contrary, from the south of the country along the E-87 highway, also known as D-550/560. ;)

2. Well, if you still prefer more civilized types of transporting your own body, then minibuses depart from Canakkale hourly on a round-trip basis. You need to look for them at the local bus station, not far from the bridge over the river.
3. There are also reputable bus companies operating flights from Istanbul to Canakkale (and back). As you know, the distance between Istanbul and Canakkale is 310 km, and the journey will take about 5 and a half hours, including the ferry crossing. There are several bus companies in Ch.:
Project: Troy on the website of the German University of Tübingen
Joint Çanakkale-Tübingen site, with many photographs
Heinrich Schliemann and his Trojan Antiquities
"Troy was never a Greek city!" - an interesting topic on the History.ru forum

and, of course, Wikipedia (where would we be without it :)):

Troy, like the Trojan War, are legendary places and events in world history and culture, but where is this Troy located? The city was destroyed by the Greeks back in the 12th century BC, and traces of its location were lost over time. But then she was found on the territory of modern Turkey...

Another question that worried scientists was what was the name of the main city in this state. Troy, most likely, was the name of the region or state, and the capital, within whose walls the Trojan horse was installed, most likely had a different name - Ilion. For its time, Troy was a fairly strong state and entered into relations with its neighbors, including the Hittites, possibly with the ancient Egyptians and other peoples. From them other names of the country and city appeared - Scamander, Dardania, Wilusa, Taruisha, etc.

Horse statue in Canakkale city

The first to begin excavations at the site of the supposed Troy, which researchers were looking for almost all over the world, was Heinrich Schliemann, an amateur archaeologist, in 1871. After some time, he found the same Troy in the Hissarlik hill.

Nowadays, Troy should be looked for 7 kilometers from the Turkish Chinakkale - the narrowest point of the Dardanelles Strait. It is approximately 5 hours drive from Istanbul. The city has its own airport, but usually tourists buy bus excursions there or travel by regular buses.

View of the strait

Unfortunately, you can see little these days; on the site of Troy you will not see palaces, temples, giant theaters and other ancient objects. The best preserved walls here are walls from different eras, as well as individual objects and elements. Troy was round in plan and consisted of a central part - the citadel, where the ruler's palace was located. Outside the walls of the citadel there were simpler houses of citizens. They, in turn, were also behind the wall. The city was located on a hill and lay, as it were, in terraces.

Schliemann's excavations were quite superficial; the real results were given by later excavations, which revealed the entire history of ancient Troy. It turned out that Troy or Ilion is one of the most ancient cities in the world. At the site of the city, 9 layers of different eras were found, the last of which ended with the rule of Rome. However, the first people began to live in this place during the Neolithic, that is, about 10 thousand years ago.

Plan of Troy today

The first settlement with houses made of clay appeared here about 5,000 years ago, this is the so-called Troy I. It is believed that it died in a fire. Troy I was replaced at the time of the pyramids by Troy II - a much more developed settlement with powerful defensive walls. But this period in the history of the city also ended in fire. After him, for 400 years until 1900 BC. Troy III-IV-V were one after the other, but they were not of particular interest. On the site of Troy there are now quite a lot of objects from this particular period.

What Troy II looked like

Remains of the walls of Troy I

This is what the walls of the citadel of Troy II looked like, at the base of which there was sandstone, and then clay bricks

Reconstruction of the walls, the main entrance to the city is right there

The center of the citadel, there were two large houses here

In some areas you can see signs - III and IV

Restored one of the entrances to Troy II, which was also used at a later time - the southwestern gate

Then, for almost 600 years, the newly rich and developed Troy VI existed. But an earthquake engulfed the city. From this period, powerful walls remain, of which there are many well-preserved sections here.

Another gate to the city (in the east)

It's hard to understand, but here was Megaron - a large rectangular house with a fireplace in the center of Troy VI

Somewhere here was the temple of Athena Troy IX

Another gate

Southern gate to Troy VI, to the left of the "house with pillars" entrance

Walls of Troy VI with objects of Troy VIII and IX

After the earthquake on the site of Troy VI, the time came for that same Homeric Troy, which we know from Homer’s immortal “Illiad” - Troy VII. It was in the same place as before, and the walls of Troy VI can be considered its walls. You will not find any isolated objects on the hill during this period.

Looks like a sewer

In the 12th century, the Greeks won the war and destroyed the city. And subsequently, everything that remained was captured by the Phrygians. In the 10th century the time came for Troy VIII, inhabited by the Greeks. It is known that during its existence, King Xerxes himself came here and slaughtered a large number of cattle in honor of the heroes of Troy. In the middle of the 4th century, the city was occupied by the Balkan Greeks, and then by the Romans, who considered themselves descendants of the Trojans. This became the VIII layer of the history of Troy. The history of Troy ended in the 4th century, when the sea receded and the city lost its strategic importance as a city that protected the entrance to the Sea of Marmara, and then the Black Sea. This role passed to Byzantium, which later became Constantinople.

Buildings from the Troy VIII period

Roman baths

Odeon

Bouleuterium - administrative building

Remains of the Temple of Athena of Troy IX

The Roman well, which went 37.5 meters deep, was built in the 4th century BC

Behind the city walls

The Sanctuary of Troy IX consisted of several temples and appeared here in the middle of the 7th century BC

The shells in the ground show that there was once a sea here

In fact, on the hill we see a huge mixture of a large number of eras and cities, which over the course of 3 thousand years were built on top of each other and often used old fortifications. The only thing you can notice is that the city was constantly growing. However, almost nothing remains in the city from the period of the Trojan War; most of the buildings appeared here much earlier and several appeared almost a thousand years later.

Not far from the hill, about 300 meters from the city, there is a water tunnel connected to the lower city and partially dug by hand in the 3rd millennium BC, that is, during Troy I or Troy II. The length of the cave is 160 meters. Over time, this place became sacred; city residents believed that the cave led to an underground god.

The tunnel was used throughout the existence of Troy

At the entrance to the territory there is another Trojan horse that you can climb into

Entrance to the Troy excavation site is open from 8 to 20.00 daily. In 2015, the ticket price was 20 Turkish lira, now I think it’s from 30 to 40.

Troy (Turkish Truva), second name Ilion, is an ancient city in the north-west of Asia Minor, off the coast of the Aegean Sea. It was known thanks to the ancient Greek epics and was discovered in the 1870s. during G. Schliemann's excavations of the Hissarlik hill. The city gained particular fame thanks to the myths about the Trojan War and the events described in Homer’s poem “The Iliad,” according to which the 10-year war of the coalition of Achaean kings led by Agamemnon, the king of Mycenae, against Troy ended with the fall of the fortress city. The people who inhabited Troy are called Teucrians in ancient Greek sources.

Heinrich Schliemann undertook the excavations of Troy due to unsettled personal life. This is not excluded. In 1852, Heinrich Schliemann, who had many affairs in St. Petersburg, married Ekaterina Lyzhina. This marriage lasted 17 years and turned out to be completely empty for him. Being a passionate man by nature, he married a sensible woman who was cold towards him. As a result, he almost found himself on the verge of madness. The unhappy couple had three children, but this did not bring happiness to Schliemann. Out of desperation, he made another fortune by selling indigo dye. In addition, he took up the Greek language closely. An inexorable thirst for travel appeared in him. In 1668, he decided to go to Ithaca and organize his first expedition. Then he went towards Constantinople, to the places where Troy was located according to the Iliad and began excavations on the Hissarlik hill. This was his first step on the path to the great Troy.

During excavations at Hisarlik, several layers of cities from different times were discovered. Archaeologists have identified 9 layers that belong to different years. Everyone calls them Troy.

Only two towers have survived from Troy I. Troy II was explored by Schliemann, considering it the true Troy of King Priam. Troy VI was the high point of the city's development, its inhabitants trading profitably with the Greeks, but the city appears to have been badly destroyed by an earthquake. Modern scientists believe that the found Troy VII is the true city of Homer's Iliad. According to historians, the city fell in 1184 BC, being burned by the Greeks. Troy VIII was restored by Greek colonists, who also built the temple of Athena here. Troy IX already belongs to the Roman Empire. I would like to note that excavations have shown that Homeric descriptions very accurately describe the city.

Popular myths.

Popular facts.

Troy, Turkey: description, photo, where it is on the map, how to get there

Troy- an ancient settlement in Turkey off the coast of the Aegean Sea. This landmark was sung by Homer in his Iliad. The Trojan War brought Troy its greatest fame. This ancient Greek city is included in the 1000 best places in the world according to our website.

Many tourists are interested in this archaeological site of modern Turkey. In order to get to Troy, you must first get to Canakalle. From there, buses leave hourly for Troy. The journey will take about half an hour. In turn, you can come to Canakalle by bus from Izmir or Istanbul. In both cases, the distance is about 320 km.

The German archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann was the first to become interested in the excavations of Troy in the second half of the 19th century. It was under his leadership that the ruins of nine cities around the Hissarlik hill were found. Moreover, many ancient artifacts and one very ancient fortress were found. Schliemann's many years of work were continued by one of his colleagues, who excavated a vast area dating back to the Mycenaean era.

Excavations are still ongoing at this site.

Today there is little to attract the traveler's eye in Troy. However, the atmosphere of the world's greatest fairy tale invariably hovers in this city. At the moment, the restoration of the famous Trojan Horse has been completely completed. This attraction is located on a panoramic platform.

Photo attraction: Troy

Troy on the map:

Where is Troy? - monument on the map

Troy is located in modern Turkey, on the eastern coast of the Aegean Sea, southwest of Istanbul. In ancient times, Troy was apparently a powerful fortified city, whose inhabitants were most famous for allowing into their city a wooden horse left behind by the Greeks. According to legend, Greek soldiers were hiding inside the souvenir, who killed the Trojan guards and opened the city gates for the Greek army.

Coordinates:
39.9573326 northern latitude
26.2387447 east longitude

Troy on the interactive map, which can be controlled:

Troy is in the lists: cities, monuments

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Troy

Troy is an ancient Greek city on the western tip of Asia Minor. In the 8th century BC, Homer spoke about it in his poems. It was a blind wandering singer. He sang about the Trojan War, which took place in the 13th century BC. e. That is, this event occurred 500 years before Homer.

For a long time it was believed that both Troy and the Trojan War were invented by the singer. It is still not even known whether the ancient poet actually existed or whether he was a collective image. Therefore, many historians were skeptical about the events sung in the Iliad.

Troy on the map of Turkey, indicated by a blue circle

In 1865, the English archaeologist Frank Calvert began excavations on the Hisarlik hill, located 7 km from the Dardanelles Strait. In 1868, German archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann also began excavations at the other end of the same hill, after a chance meeting with Calvert in Canakkale.

The German was lucky. He excavated several fortified cities that were built in different eras. To date, 9 main settlements have been excavated, located one above the other. They were built in a time period that spans 3.5 thousand years.

Model of the city of Troy on the eve of the Trojan War

The excavations are located in northwestern Anatolia at the southwestern end of the Dardanelles Strait (in ancient times the Hellespont) northwest of Mount Ida. It is about 30 km southwest of the city of Canakkale (the capital of the province of the same name).

Not far from the ruins is a small village that supports the tourism industry. This site was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1998.. It should be noted that during the Roman Empire Troy was called Ilion. The city flourished until it was eclipsed by Constantinople. During the Byzantine era it fell into decay.

The famous Trojan horse. Hiding in such a horse,
the treacherous Achaeans entered the city

Main archaeological layers of Troy

1 layer- a settlement dating back to the Neolithic period. This is the 7th-5th centuries BC. e.

2 layer- covers the period 3-2.6 thousand years BC. e. It is from this settlement that Troy begins. It had a diameter of no more than 150 meters. The houses were built from clay bricks. All houses were destroyed by fire.

3 layer- covers the period 2.6-2.25 thousand years BC. e. More developed settlement. Precious jewelry, gold vessels, weapons, and gravestones were found on its territory. All this pointed to a highly developed culture. The settlement was destroyed as a result of a natural disaster.

4 and 5 layers- covers the period 2.25-1.95 thousand years BC. e. Characterized by the decline of culture and material wealth.

6 layer- 1.95-1.3 thousand years BC e. The city grew in size and wealth. It was destroyed around 1250 BC. e. strong earthquake. However, it was quickly restored.

7 layer- 1.3-1.2 thousand years BC e. This particular archaeological layer dates back to the period of the Trojan War. The area of the city at that time occupied 200 thousand square meters. meters. At the same time, the area of the fortress was 23 thousand square meters. meters. The urban population reached 10 thousand people. The city fortress was a powerful wall with towers. Their height reached 9 meters. The siege and destruction of the city occurs approximately in 1184 BC. e.

8 layer- 1.2-0.9 thousand years BC e. The settlement was captured by wild tribes. No cultural development was observed during this period.

9 layer- 900-350 BC e. Troy turned into the ancient Greek city-state - polis. This had a beneficial effect on the culture and well-being of citizens. The period is characterized by good relations with the Achaemenid power. Persian king Xerxes in 480 BC. e. visited the city and sacrificed 1000 bulls to the sanctuary of Athena.

10 layer- 350 BC e. - 400 AD e. characterized by the era of Hellenistic states and Roman rule. In 85 BC. e. Ilium was destroyed by the Roman general Fimbria.

Sulla then helped rebuild the settlement.

In 20 AD e. Emperor Augustus visited Troy and allocated money for the restoration of the sanctuary of Athena. The city flourished for a long time, but then, as already mentioned, fell into decline, thanks to the heyday of Constantinople.

Archaeological excavations

After Schliemann, excavations were carried out by Wilhelm Dörpfeld in 1893-1894, and then in 1932-1938 by Karl Blegen. These excavations showed that there were 9 cities, built one on top of the other. At the same time, 9 levels were divided into 46 sublevels.

Archaeological excavations resumed in 1988 under the leadership of professors Manfred Korfmann and Brian Rose. During this period, the ruins of late Greek and Roman cities were discovered. In 2006, Ernst Pernik led the excavations.

In March 2014, it was announced that further research would be sponsored by a private Turkish company, and the work would be led by Associate Professor Rustem Aslan. It was stated that Troy would boost tourism in Canakkale and perhaps become one of Turkey's most visited historical sites.

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